Sorrento Therapeutics and The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) entered into an antibody and vaccine development collaboration, under which Sorrento is obtaining an exclusive license to TSRI's technologies based on ghrelin-signaling inhibition for the prevention and treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders. Through this collaboration, Sorrento's aim is to develop vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics to fight obesity.

A research group at TSRI led by Kim Janda, Ph.D., has developed a technology to fight obesity-exploiting antibody-mediated neutralization of the hunger-stimulating peptide hormone ghrelin. When tested on rodents, the technology reportedly demonstrated statistically significant effects including reduced food intake and body weight loss. Sorrento and Scripps believe that Sorrento's G-MAB® antibody library technology, which was designed to facilitate rapid identification and isolation of highly specific antibody therapeutics, could be used in combination with the ghrelin peptide analogs described by the TSRI team to identify fully human antibodies for the sequestration of ghrelin-mediated appetite process.

"This discovery program represents a novel approach to combating obesity," said Henry Ji, Ph.D., president and CEO of Sorrento, in a statement.